The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-07-27
Cost and Cruelty Of Liquor Traffic

Cost and Cruelty Of Liquor Traffic.
The Hon. William Window, speaking at
the Fourth Of July celebration at Woodstock,
Conn.,, said: --' E,
1T is estimated upon the best attainabIe
authority that this tyrant's revels cost an
nually more than $7O0,0OO, 900; that 100000
victims, rendered worse than useless, are
staggering along in his triumphal procession
to dishonored graves; and that his army Of
immediate retainers-the makers and ven
ders Of Liquid fre"-numbers 5OO,0 900 more.
Estimating that this million Of makers,
venders and victims, if engaged In some le-
gitimate business, could have earned $l.5O
per day, we have loss in productive power
of S459, 100 900 per annum, which, added to
the S7OO, ,0OO wasted for strong drinks,
makes total Of 81, $50, 100000. Add to this
taration- estimated at 500, ,000, ,OOO-for the
support of jails, criminal prosecutions, peni-
tentiaries, almshouses, pauperism, and all
the unnumbered burdens imposed upon the
country by this tyrant, and you have 81 $780,
0U0, ,0OO as the annual cost Of his reign. How
does this compare with the administrator Of
King George, or with the tax on the historic
tea, that century ago was put to steep in
Boston Harborl -
"Let it be borne in mind that this burden
rests most heavily upon the poor, who are
least able to bear it. 1t is doubtless true that
large portion Of it is borne by the rich and
prosperous, but if only one-haf Of it falls
upon the wage-workers Of the nation, there
is an Anti-Poverty Society, with possibii-
ties beyond the widest dreams of Mr.
George and DR.. McGlynn. Mr.. Powderly,
in a recent speech said: In one Penn
sylvania county, in single year, 81, ,0O0,-
QUO was spent for liquor, and it was esti-
from workins:nen.' The savings that could
be made through an Anti-Saloon Anti Poverty
Society, would in ten years buy half the farms
in the United States, and in fifteen. years
more furnish O fund large enough to pur-
chase every railroad in the country, and pay
for them more than their actual cost.
mot less than $4,000 victims go annually
to the drunkards grave. Pestilence and war
combined do not, in this country, equal its
destructive energy. repeat what 1 have,
had occasion to say elsewhere, that the waste
OF human life wrought every five years by
our 200, 900 saloons, IS equal to the destruction
Of life by both armies, numbering millions OF
armed men, during the entire War Of the
Rebellion. In their hands strong drink is q
weapon so fatal that the 500, 900 drunkard-
makers are able to accomplish more in the
same period than four times their number
could with shot and shell, fire and sword, and
all the appliances Of modern warfare. The
cruelty OF war is not measured by the number
of those who fall in battle, but by the anutter-
able woe and bitter anguish Of broken hearts
and dcsolated homes. Most emphatically
is it true, that the mere destruction of $4,000
lives every year affords no measure of the re-
lentless cruelty Of the liquor power in its
war against society. To realize this you
must 60 to the dishonored homes, question
the broken hearts, and the voice,ess misery in
wan and haggard faces, hear helpless chill
dren cry for food, see them stricken down by
drunken and infuriated fathers, and some
times even by besotted mothers, witness the
debauchery and ruin Of youth, and the utter
degradation, ignorance, poverty and misery
which everywhere and always accompany
the victims of the saloon. Do YOU say that
all these are the incidents Of the business,
not the motives for it Certainly. Let us
do these men no injustice Human misery is
not their motive. They only want to get
money, and knowing that these things follow
as effect follows cause they are not deferred.
Doubtless they would prefer to get money
without these disagreeable consequences Of
their acts A like plea may be made for the
burglar and highwayman. Their motive also
is money, not murder"